Northern Australia has long presented a series of problems in terms of sustainable cotton insect management. This is exemplified by the failure of the Ord cotton industry in the early 1970's under extreme insect pressure. Numerous studies and reports have suggested that for cotton growing to be successful in Northern Australia considerable changes to the production system were required (Yeates 2001). The advent of transgenic cotton has provided the impetus for renewed research interest in cotton in northern Australian. The production system proposed involves growing transgenic varieties in the winter or dry season. The move to the dry season is largely in response to research findings showing that insect pressure from Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura, and Pecinophora gossypiella are lower in this period. Although preliminary research has shown this to be true, a number of additional problems have become apparent. This paper discusses some of the entomological issues associated with cotton production in northern Australia and the research being undertaken to address these problems